ISSUE ONE, March 2011

A R T F A R T FASHIO P A R T

ISSUE ONE March 2011 free online

JAK FLASH

PHOTOGRAPHS THE MAJOR ARCANA

BOY GIRL GIRL BOY

A GENDER BENDING SERIES

SLEEVE NOTES

PRESENTS A NIGHT DEVOTED TO 80S FILTH

the

NOVEMBER PROJECT THE ILLUSTRATED SELF IMPOSED BOUNDARIES DIARY

Y Y N Y

Model: Bianca Harvey

CONTENTS magpie

1

Untitled Veils and Hoods

2-3

Kate HookTrapped In Skin

4-5

Gender Bender

6-11

The Major Arcana

12-17

Cum Clubbing

18-21

The November Project

22-27

Comics by Pete Heyes

28-29

Nice and Sleazy

30

Welcome to the first issue of Magpie.

The pages inside will, for this issue, be concerned about Midlands based arty farty fashion party items.

Finding few outlets for works by ‘unknown’ creatives, the magazine was set up to explore those very pieces and give the public awareness of the oasis of talent around them. Work began in late 2010 to secure the first artists for ISSUE ONE, and has been an ongoing process to get collaborations and pieces commissioned especially for the issue.

We give you ISSUE ONE online for free, because we know how tight money is right now and we hope you shall stick with us through each and every following issue.

We are constantly looking for people to include within each issue of the magazine. Works can be anything in the world; from homoerotic imagery and ultra fashion to bleak poetry and raw documentary, we want it all. You can find out how to tell us about your work at:

www.magpiemag.jimdo.com

A Magpie is a collector of stuff, with a penchant for shiny things.

Magpie Magazine collects people and their ideas and puts everything into it’s nest for people to see. Be it fabulous or foul, if it’s interesting we like to show the world.

JOSEPH DIETER REINER, EDITOR

magpie

2

Thomas Doherty is an artist who grew up in and around Birmingham.

Spreading his time between there and London, he has created this untitled series exploring the veiled figure.

Over the last couple of years he has been developing a body of illustration work. He combines traditional painting and drawing techniques with

technological and graphical elements in a way which produces bold and striking pieces.

“I researched ideas of iconography, and idolatry in both religious and popular culture contexts. I was instantly attracted to the Burqa, which is primarily recognized as Islamic religious dress, and is a visually striking object with different connotations for different people.

I was interested by the idea that something could be instantly recognizable whilst rendering its wearer unrecognizable.

It can occasionally be used crudely as a symbol of the Islamic faith, or even more poorly to suggest connotations of ‘the Middle East’. This is something which I was keen to avoid.

I was more interested in the fact that in a sense the Burqa can be seen as iconic in Western society; Iconic not in a religious sense but

used in pop culture ... as a sort of symbol.

The series started when I began combining images of iconic females with veils inspired by the Burqa. I suppose I’m questioning the act of veiling itself. why we do it? Whether it empowers us, protects us, saps us of individuality or creates us a new personality.”

More of his work: www.alasalas.tumblr.com

magpie

3

THOMAS DOHERTY

4

magpie

TRAPPED IN SKIN Sometimes you can grow a skin that, after a while, you don’t feel right in. You’ve just got to escape from it and it’s a struggle.

Kate Hook’s collaborative series ‘Trapped In Skin’ presents a dark idea about what it is to be ‘you’ and how you feel caught within your own self.

“In the last year I’ve picked my camera back up from a personal hiatus from photography. I studied at Sutton Art & Design and have been getting more involved in projects before I go to University and study photography again. In a sense I like to think I’m quite diverse and have variety with

my work, I’m not one track in a sense of a certain style, I’m always exploring the different types of photography and what is there to be learnt and done.

The ‘Trapped In Skin’ set was in fact a collaboration photoshoot with my friend and artist Kerry Burns. It’s about being trapped within yourself, in your society, feeling confused and wanting to escape, but you can’t. In this day and age we’re force fed what we should like, how we should dress, how we should be in general.”

When looking through her other works it’s obvious that Kate Hook’s belief in diversity through her photography is something that works. Be it fashion based or personal projects the quality is high and conceptually Hook delivers really interesting ideas.

To see more work you can find her on Flickr: www.flickr.com/katehook Or search ‘Kate Hook Photography’ on Facebook.

joey vivo’s 6

magpie

GENDER BENDER “And God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which God had taken from man, made he a woman” - Genesis 2:21–22

7

JOEY VIVO’s full “Gender Bender” series consists of six people in twelve different shoots, and a set of conversations and questions between photographer and subject. There is a selection from the series in the following pages.

representation of themselves, for others it is.

Currently based in Birmingham, Joey Vivo is studying for his degree in Photography at the Birmingham Institute of Art and Design.

Joey Vivo is a pseudonym. “People have always mispronounced my full name. When I discovered the great documentary images of Robert Capa and the beautifully elegant works of Mark Shaw, and realized they changed their names I knew it wouldn’t be an abandonment but a practical way to make it easier for others to remember me.”

“Identity has always intrigued me and this project is a look at a specific part of identity - gender.

I began thinking about gender when I first photographed James Hicks when he was sixteen.

He already had such a definite idea about who he was and how he wanted to portray himself to the general public. When a person truly believes that they were born in the wrong gender, what gives them that conviction? The idea of gender can mean different things to everyone - some believe it’s just the physical state, for others it’s a state of mind. This is what I’ve tried to explore in the series. People’s thoughts about others come instantly, when they first see them. In a still image, the audience doesn’t get to judge a person through the way they speak and act, so you will only judge them by the way they have been presented, which for some isn’t a ‘true’

I photographed my subjects in two ways, once in the place they get dressed, so their bedrooms or in a changing room at a club. And once in the studio for a very simple stripped down portrait.

This was to show a duality in identity between what we want to be presented to the world about who we are and what we actually are.”

If you want to see Joey Vivo at work you can visit his Pop-Up Studio at the Get Bent! event held in Vivid Gallery, Digbeth on 1st April. The theme is gender bending through popular culture so it’s no surprise Vivo has carved a space for himself inside what promises to be one of the more exciting parties in the Eastside.

Further work and contact for Joey Vivo: www.joeyvivo.co.uk joeyvivo@yahoo.co.uk

magpie

8

Amy Are you a boy or a girl?

I am a... GIRL!

Do you consider yourself to be a gender bender?

No. Well... No, just no. I’ve been a tomboy a lot in the past. But that’s just about, like, clothes.

What is gender?

Your genitals. And actually I don’t think even boobs count because guys can have boobs now, or the appearance of boobs.

So if you didn’t know what someone had down there but they looked like a boy or girl?

I’d assume, but I couldn’t state. That’s where it gets confused, people started stereotyping.

Girls wore skirts, guys trousers, but now they confuse it all. You can’t really tell nowadays.

Ever wanted to be a boy?

Not properly. But I have thought guys have it easier.

Why? The natural way. Because like girls have the period and pains and childbirth and guys get away with it.

magpie

9

Matt Are you a man or woman?

A man.

And when you dress in drag, are you a man or woman?

I’m a caricature of a woman. I don’t want to look like woman, it’s exaggerated and over the top. Someone asked me if I was a woman once and I said “get a grip!”

Do you consider yourself a gender bender?

Well... Oo I don’t know. I suppose what is a gender bender? The media portray Boy George as a gender bender. I suppose so. But it’s not something I’d label myself with.

What is gender?

It’s a state of mind. I think it’s umm... I suppose it’s a way to put a label on something.

Why do you dress up in drag?

‘Cuz I earn lots of money! Haha! Nothing more nothing less. It’s definitely nothing sexual. I like the attention I get as well.

How does it affect you?

It changes the way I speak to people; As a boy I’m quite shy, but in drag I’ll strike up conversation with anyone.

Have you ever wanted to be a woman?

No. Just plain no. Although I suppose there’s a bracket to that because I’ve always wanted tits for a day, just to know what it was like.

magpie

10

Jake Are you a boy or girl?

I am a boy.

Define your style.

Hmm... wow. That’s a hard one. It’s alternative but not obviously alternative... I guess it’s a cross between 21st Century and the O.A.P. look!

What defines a persons gender?

By their genetalia I guess. You can kind of obscure it though. Like with people who take androgyny to the extreem. If you look hard enough you can tell though, through their jaw and hands.

Are you happy being a boy?

Some days yes some no. I’ve got really big feet and it would be nice to be able to fit into some heels.

Does your gender define your identity?

Yep. I guess it would do, but it’s not everything about my identity. Because I’m influenced by both genders I end up taking on both.

What makes you a boy?

Acceptance. It’s just about accepting who you are.

magpie

11

James Are you male or female?

Erm... Neither, or both.

Why do you try to ‘blur’ your gender?

Because sometimes I feel like a boy and sometimes I feel like a girl. I like to be both. I don’t ever really feel like just one gender ever. My gender is fluid.

Describe what gender means to you.

Just... erm... Masculine or feminine. It’s not just about being male or female. It’s clothes that indicate a persons gender, but it isn’t just about that.

Are you more comfortable as a boy or girl?

I suppose it depends on the day, or season. I’m usually more boyish in the autumn and winter, and more girls in the summer because the fashions are better then. It’s about what clothes feel right to wear that day. If you feel like a boy but go out looking like a girl it feels wrong.

Who inspires you?

Candy Darling! She is the most beautiful woman ever, and the most fascinating thing. Also, people who do something interesting and original, even if it’s not brilliant.

You adopted the name of a transsexual woman, why?

Because she inspired me to start cross dressing.

By having her name it’s a king of tribute to her because she’s an important reference to me.

magpie

12

THE MAJOR ARCANA photography by JAK FLASH

13

magpie

14

magpie

15

magpie

16

magpie

17

magpie

To see the full series and contact JAK FLASH go to www.flashyourjak.com

magpie

18

THE CUM CLUB words: Nicky Getgood

images: Joey Vivo

A little warning: The Cum Club was as dirty as its name suggests. Don’t read on if you’re easily offended and/or dislike talk of sexing and that.

Cum Clubbing WAS presented as part of Trevor Pitt’s ‘Sleeve Notes’ project and gets its name from Gay John’s infamous Cum Club night at The Old Fantasy Club on Bradford Street during the 1980s.

Trevor Pitt’s Sleeve Notes project was born out of his introduction to the art world and his own major cultural influences, which didn’t come from art school or one particular source, but on the sleeve notes on the records of his varied music collection.

picking bits up here and there. And on the back of albums they kind of give you some sleeve notes…

Say for instance the David Bowie song, Andy Warhol – I’d never heard of Andy Warhol, I wanted to go and find out who Andy Warhol is. I think that’s how we learned….My education was “The thing I was interested through what I would call in and always have been was sleeve notes.” this idea of sleeve notes. I didn’t go to art school, so Trevor found himself my education was through increasingly interested in

the unusual way he and the likes of Gay John grew as visual artists through their sleeve notes journeys, and looked at ways of mapping the largely unseen learning curve he and his peers went through.

“Where did our art education come from? How did we fraternize with the art world?

What did the art world have to do with the clubbing/ underground world?…

What was happening at that

time…I knew it was a very creative period. We were very influenced by very visual culture of Glam – of Bolan and Bowie and Roxy – so we were a very visually saturated generation…

I was curious about this period in time, so I invited people to do a session with me where I made a cartography. A kind of map of their life…I just mapped out key incidents in their life so I looked at people, places and incidents…And thats when all this Cum Clubbing thing came out. Through that interview that’s when this idea of the project came out.”

VIVID on 10th September 2010, ‘inviting younger DJ’s to respond to John and his archive’, referencing the influences of the likes of ‘New York Dolls…Iggy..

Suzy…’ rather than doing the usual ‘Reflex factor’ of purely 80′s pop music.

Learning about Gay John’s record collection, it could be surprising that it led him to create the ‘visually stunning’ clubnights he did – it was made up of ‘anything that wasn’t in the charts’ and, in John’s own words, ‘My record collection’s crap…

Disco Fuck and things like that….It’s just bad…I used to take punks back to my place and play them Shirley Trevor interviewed Gay Bassey.’

John, Brian Duffy (Modified Toy Orchestra), Jim Simpson Yet looking at the rich (Black Sabbath manager) archive of posters, flyers and Roy Davies (Madhouse) and photographs from the about their journeys and it Cum Club days, you can see was his interview with Gay they really were a fetishistic John that led him to creating treat for all the senses. the Cum Clubbing event at

John started Cum Club in the early eighties on Fridays at the Fantasy Strip Club, Bradford St, which had seen better days.

like time capsule things… last done up in the late 50s/ early 60s, all done out like an old pirate ship….But If you think about all the clubs around that time, The “This was the really seedy Powerhouse, The Dome side of the eighties. The all those….they were all a Fantasy – you’d go in there night out. They all had really and there’d be 45 year-old fabulous acts on, Shirley housewives and back in Bassey, Tom Jones, all these the day, they wouldn’t have kind of people played at Brazillians and things so those clubs. But they slowly they’d come on and there’d died.” be a lot of forest appearing from all different places, As the market for ‘these they’d had the costumes for fabulous, tacky clubs’ petered years and years and it was out, they left spaces ripe very, very sad but it was sort for Gay John’s outrageous of captivating in a weird creations where he and his way.” friends, who suffered at the hands of strict door policies Just like the strippers, The at local gay clubs, could get Fantasy Club was one of in dressed to the nines in the many Birmingham clubs their early Goth gear. that was well passed its prime.

Early on, John’s nights split the audience into two “It had died on its bum groups – the delighted really…there were lots of and the disgusted. Cum things wrong with it…It was Club was soon infamous just such a brilliant space, for its shocking stage acts

which became things of legend in Birmingham – from their Christmas Show take-off of Feed The World ‘with plastic tummies on and big cups’ to going ‘through the fetishes quite quickly.

We’d do electrocution… setting you on fire… bondage…scat [involving some chocolate Angel Delight]…’

The flyers and posters John produced for Cum Club were as striking as the live performances. (My favourite is the Pope poster, which is pretty relevant now with his impending visit to Birmingham.)

“I learned early on if you got a good image people would focus into that image and go down. These all used to go in shops, in the record shops and over the subways… we did get told off, people did say ‘we’re not putting them up anymore, but bring them in becase we want to collect them anyway’, so we probably toned them down…But I did go down the whole Byron thing. We

all got into Byron and all the lot of things I’ve seen, I’ve black arts…” thought ‘God, that’s so close to what we were.’”

Cum Club soon moved beyond being a simple fetish The Fantasy club closed later night to being ‘somewhere in the eighties, partly because to dress’ that explored all two people died falling elements of the hedonistic through a glass factory roof and bizarre. trying to get in through the back fire escape. However “We just wanted to do Gay John’s adventures bizarre things…We’d have in clubland continued – a section in the show where progressing from Cum Club we’d humiliate someone to create nights like Kipper, in the audience…We’d Slipper and Hypnosis and have a section where we’d becoming Birmingham’s attack popular music at that first Door Whore. time…I chainsawed a pig’s head up on stage….I got However, John increasingly hold of this record [a parody found he didn’t have the ego of ‘Fever’ about a tumour], for enjoying the the power so we used to go out as over people he’d gained, and patients and we’d have all this eventually led him to meat inside body stockings leaving the club scene. and throughout this song we’d rip this meat off and “I turned myself off. I was pull it apart and throw it into hosting a night….and I got the audience.” two people on stage having it away for 4 cans of lager.

I commented that this I just thought ‘What am I sounded similar to the video doing?…Why am I doing for Robbie Williams’ Rock this? Why am I manipulating DJ: people? This is not what I got into it for, it’s not what “It is weird, this is a long I’m about.’ Just because I time ago…there is quite a can get people to do things

it doesn’t mean I should. So from then I stopped doing it and went and done other things. I didn’t miss it at all, in the end.”

John doesn’t know what he’ll do with remaining archive of posters and paraphernalia from those days.

“I was just going to bin it all…What use is it to anyone?”

Luckily, Trevor intervened.

Pitt

Trevor Pitt’s next Sleeve Notes event Get Bent! is hosted at Vivid Gallery, Digbeth, 1st April, £5 entry www.podprojects.org Nicky Getgood: www.getgoodguide.com

21

magpie

magpie

22

JAMES LAWRENCE SLATTERY’S

THE NOVEMBER PROJECT

The rules will not build up, but change each week.

All boundaries will be linked to my physical body, and therefor in some way test it. The boundary may change how I interact with others as well as how I treat myself. As well as weekly boundaries I will also be celibate, and not kiss anyone, for the entire month.

magpie

23

When we approached illustrator ALEX HOVEY to create some visuals for ‘The November Project’ we knew he wouldn’t disappoint.

Currently based in Birmingham

and in his final year studying for his BA in Illustration, Alex Hovey’s work reveals personal experience and great technical understanding.

Be it Dinosaur skulls or graphical images of birds

Hovey’s work is really interesting and exciting.

You can see his other works: www.alexhovey.tumblr.com

Week 1, Day 1 No Physical Contact The first day of no physical contact has made me notice the people around me a lot more - how physical contact happens so casually, but when becoming so aware of it, it all becomes significant. I have started giving people much more room to move around me, stepping far back from them, and keeping away from crowds. It is obviously isolating because I put such a great effort into keeping my distance.

either coming across as very polite or very rude. It’s a drastic change for someone as physical and social as myself. I feel awkward and self conscious when in larger groups.

Public Transport is the worst, mainly because it’s further from my control, and I have to edge to the corner of my seat if someone sits next to me. As well as this boundary making me more aware of the casual physical contact I would’ve had, I’m also aware of the lack of physical contact in my day to day life. I notice how little I touch a lot of people, and how many don’t even notice the avoidance.

open for me” and “He held the door open for me and slightly brushed my hand” seem very different, even though the second its simply adding in a finer detail.

Week 2 Watermelon Eating

Everyday this week I will eat an entire watermelon in one sitting/ standing. Watermelons are very healthy, but when eating a whole one, it looks grotesque and savage, more like meat then a fruit. It 12.54pm Today Sean’s hand becomes sickening and a push accidentally touched mine in the As my friend pointed out, when between health and destruction. library. physical contact is taken note of, it suddenly changes the situation The seed that planted this idea in Week 1, Day 3 to something more loaded and my head was a moment in Larry I seem to over compensate on space, intimate. E.g. “He held the door Clark’s controversial film KIDS,

where Telly describes a girl’s virgin innocence being totally captured by Week 3, Day 1 & 2 her eating a watermelon.

I think this is nearly impossible. I made accidental eye contact when Week 2, Day 2 & 3 eyes passed and a few times when in This clearly will be my easiest conversation with Sean. Walking and week, depending only on myself talking makes this boundary easier. to complete it, and it lasting for Getting other’s attention is tricky and conversation had an underlying around half an hour each day. distraction.

Because of these 2 factors, it’s also the I need to warn people before getting least socially challenging. into even a brief conversation. Saw Day 2 - Outside Starbucks in town, some friends outside the cinema and sitting down. I ate pretty quickly and I didn’t know where to look because systematically. I’m not sure how many the only place I would’ve looked was people noticed or looked because into their eyes. I mainly speak at the I became focused and didn’t look ground. I must seem very rude. I around. I like how it probably didn’t also think I must look slightly like seem all that out of the ordinary at I’m blind as when I talk to someone it’s as if I’m not focusing anywhere, first glance. especially not at them.

Day 3 - In my kitchen at home over the sink. Sometimes having a busy life I missed no physical contact more means I can’t always be as much as an than no eye contact. It’s somehow more comforting. exhibitionist as I’d like.

nervous about encounters with those I’m not so familiar with. Asking a stranger for something via a piece of paper is a harder thing to do, than a conversation over paper with a friend.

Week 4, Day 2 & 3 “This is the conversation I’ve had!”

best ever

I have accidentally uttered a few words to my mother before gasping and stopping. I suppose it’s harder to remember when I’m just at home, in a situation I wouldn’t be talking normally/frequently in. Yesterday I went to the private view at Ikon gallery for the Len Lye show and the lovely Andy B. said the quote at the top, after we had a great conversation.

Mostly when I spoke to people they would continue to be vocal, but one person wrote down as well, explaining that he felt strange to talk out loud.

When in these more social situations Week 3, Day 3, 4 & 5 it seems it may put a certain amount Week 2, Day 4 of strain on those I converse with, In the “canteen” at school. Sean Some seemed very put off by the though I don’t necessarily view it in a Francis Burns and I sat at a table where whole thing, not being able to hold negative light. All interactions become I cut and stuffed Watermelon into my conversation with me as much as in some what private, as there’s little mouth. Again, I didn’t look around possible. Overall it was much more place for me in groups at the moment. too much. Sitting and not standing difficult keeping up this boundary So far, it also seems that I have a altered it drastically as a performance. around those I didn’t know too well. lot that’s not much worth saying.

By the last piece I stuffed it hard into With more effort needed for literally my mouth till it was hard to swallow Week 4, Day 1 No Talking every word, there’s a lot I’ve stopped and I started to gag. bothering with.

This is either easier or harder than Week 3 weeks 1 and 3, and I can’t tell which Day 4 & 5 No Eye Contact yet. Day 1 down with no fuck up.

For this week I will try my best not to It’s not as difficult as I thought it’d Honestly not a great deal to add to this look anyone in the eye. I think of this be as I’ve allowed myself written week. I’d say over all, it was the most as an intimate act, but people do it all communication via pen and notepad successful out of all of them, though and a small laptop. As with most of I did continue to occasionally slip up the time. these boundaries so far, I’m more when around my mother.

26

magpie

magpie

27

the end...

Oh it seems the November Project 2010 is over! And honestly, I feel quite sad, or at the very least, without such a sense of direction. During the November Project it was like every moment of the day was going towards something which somehow had meaning.

During the weeks I feel I’ve reassessed how I interact with others, and where intimacy is deeply buried and underlying, or completely devoid, in numerous social circumstances.

No physical contact made me feel alone, watermelon eating made me feel attention seeking (and bloated), no eye contact made me feel rude, no speaking made me feel... good. At some stage though, they all made me feel nervous around others in their different ways.

If you have any questions email me at, doyoulovemejamiestewart@gmail.com

To see more of James L. Slattery’s work: www.youtube.com/artsuxx www.flickr.com/ilovejamesls

28

IN HIS OWN WORDS...

“PETE HEYES is an angry little bearded man who draws pictures.”

magpie

29

www.peteheyes.blogspot.com

magpie

www.youtube.com/peetoman

magpie

30

Nice n’ Sleazy Daniel Kaye is currently a second year student at Birmingham Institute of Art and Design.

“I’ve always enjoyed looking at things I’ve found aesthetically pleasing, but with such a wide variety of interests, I often find it difficult to determine a definitive style behind my work..

I was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) while living in California, which basically makes me switch between thoughts rapidly. I’ve found this enables me to think creatively constantly. As a gay photographer, I like to focus some of my attention towards the beauty and strength of homosexuality in art (and day to day life). I don’t like the pretentious side of artists, or art. I also don’t like the rules, but I understand we must abide by them at times. My main medium is photography, although I have spent a lot of time in graphic design, with a plan to focus on moving image in the future.

29

For an assignment, “Nice and Sleazy” [images from the series]my overall idea was to dress my models ‘sleazily’, while positioning them in ‘nice’ environments. I wanted them in provocative positions, touching on the subjects of sex and sexuality.”

magpie

33

www.magpiemag.jimdo.com

www.magpiemag.jimdo.com

www.magpiemag.jimdo.com

www.magpiemag.jimdo.com

www.magpiemag.jimdo.com

www.magpiemag.jimdo.com

www.magpiemag.jimdo.com

www.magpiemag.jimdo.com

www.magpiemag.jimdo.com

www.magpiemag.jimdo.com

magpie